Ok let me clear some things up. I graduated Delta Dec '07. My wife and I lived in Stafford at Aventine at Courthouse square http://www.aventineatcourthousesquare.com. My commute was never more than 25 min from door to door (that includes walking from the parade deck where the brown baggers park). As far as the traffic, it sucks bad. However the morning north bound backup doesn't really start to occur until right at the G-ville exit on 95 at which point you are already getting off there to go to the Onville gate, therefore, no factor. Afternoon southbound is almost always going to be backed up from DC to Fredricksberg and there is not really any way around it so you might as well just start learning now that you will have to deal with it. US-1 will also give you problems during the peak times. A good tip is to listen to the radio for traffic updates. 103.5(news radio) and 101.5(rock station) give constant updates every 10 min or so during peak times.
Any apartment complex you look into is going to be pretty much the same bag. However since BAH just went up they are prob going to hike their prices too, so be on the lookout. Just be prepared, the entire area up there is congested as shit and is only getting worse as more jobs become available with the FED contracting out more.
As far as when you get down here to P-cola you will be attached to MATSG-21. There are a given number of slots for the different Primary locations in each API class. For example: API Class X has 40 total seats - 10 of which are for Marines - 2/10 are slotted for Vance, 4/10 Slotted for Corpus and 4/10 slotted for Whiting (these numbers are completely arbitrary and for demonstration purposes only) When you check in you request one of the 3 primary locations. Most of the whiting slots go to married Marines, however, it really can boil down to class rank when competing for certain slots not marriage.
Just focus on the job at hand for now and learn the ropes of the place you're going when you get there, else you'll just stress yourself out more than necessary. Kick ass in TBS, and have fun while you're there. Take it serious but not too serious if you catch my drift.
Semper Fi
Any apartment complex you look into is going to be pretty much the same bag. However since BAH just went up they are prob going to hike their prices too, so be on the lookout. Just be prepared, the entire area up there is congested as shit and is only getting worse as more jobs become available with the FED contracting out more.
As far as when you get down here to P-cola you will be attached to MATSG-21. There are a given number of slots for the different Primary locations in each API class. For example: API Class X has 40 total seats - 10 of which are for Marines - 2/10 are slotted for Vance, 4/10 Slotted for Corpus and 4/10 slotted for Whiting (these numbers are completely arbitrary and for demonstration purposes only) When you check in you request one of the 3 primary locations. Most of the whiting slots go to married Marines, however, it really can boil down to class rank when competing for certain slots not marriage.
Just focus on the job at hand for now and learn the ropes of the place you're going when you get there, else you'll just stress yourself out more than necessary. Kick ass in TBS, and have fun while you're there. Take it serious but not too serious if you catch my drift.
Semper Fi
